Knowing how to get started on improvement is often the biggest hurdle to overcome for anyone who wants to effect positive change. This collection of resources will introduce anyone, at any level, to the fundamentals of IHI’s approach to improvement. Building improvement skills and knowledge at the individual, team, or even organization level can all start here — with an understanding of simple, but powerful methods and tools.
Suggested Resources for Getting Started
How to Improve: The Model for Improvement and PDSA Cycles
The Model for Improvement is a simple, but powerful tool that lies at the heart of IHI’s approach to improvement. Included with the basic introduction of the model are specific sections on forming the right improvement team, setting aims, establishing measures, selecting and testing changes, and more. Also available are a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) worksheet (perennially one of the most popular tools on the IHI website), a project planning form, and links to free videos explaining the science of improvement.
Science of Improvement "Whiteboard" Videos: PDSAs
IHI Vice President Robert Lloyd, PhD, has created a series of “whiteboard” primers to dissect the science of improvement. In this short video, he explains the PDSA cycle – a simple tool that gives improvers a way to quickly test changes on a small scale, observe what happens, tweak the changes as necessary, and then test again.
IHI Open School Course QI 102: The Model for Improvement: Your Engine for Change
This online course will teach you how to use the Model for Improvement to improve everything from your tennis game to your hospital’s infection rate. You’ll learn the basic steps in any improvement project: setting an aim, forming a team, selecting measures, developing ideas for changes, testing changes using Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles, and measuring to determine if the changes you are testing are leading to improvement. Unlike most IHI Open School courses — which are free for students, residents, professors, and learners from the Least Developed Countries — this IHI Open School online course is freely available to all.
Video: The business case for building QI skills
IHI Chief Medical Officer Dr. Don Goldmann describes how building quality improvement capability saves time and money and enhances joy in work.
Whether you’re relatively new to health care improvement, you’re a QI veteran who wants to get back to basics, or you need something to accelerate your team’s efforts, IHI has a range of other free improvement capability resources that can help.
